


Until Tomorrow

by gray_autumn_sky



Series: Set in Storybrooke, Canon Divergent [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dimples Queen, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 20:57:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15373170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gray_autumn_sky/pseuds/gray_autumn_sky
Summary: Regina keeps in touch with Roland via an enchanted mirror that she gave him, and during one of their chats, he calls her his mom.Set after Roland and the Merry Men left Storybrooke.





	Until Tomorrow

Before they left for the Underworld, Regina had given him an enchanted mirror–a way to keep in touch, she’d told him. And on the day, he’d packed up all this things–the day he’d plucked a feather off one of his father’s arrows to give to her–he made sure the mirror was tucked safely in his knapsack. That day, he hadn’t been able to say goodbye–but that was okay, he reminded himself, he had the mirror and he’d see her again.

For those first few days after he’d returned to the Enchanted Forest with the Merry Men, he’d checked the mirror constantly–but she was never there. The glass was on her dressing table, looking up at the ceiling; and it was all but forgotten. And then, one day, he’d heard her voice–it was quiet and faint, and she sounded sad, but he found himself running toward his tent–toward the mirror–and calling out her name. He said it again and again, louder and louder as he tapped on the glass–and then, he heard her whisper his name.

Anticipation bubbled up in his chest and his eyes grew teary, and when she picked up the mirror, he offered her an eager smile. He told her he missed her and he told her about how he spent his days; he asked about Henry and the little sister he’d nicknamed Peanut, and confessed he missed his room at her house. By the time he ran out of things to tell her, it was dark and his eyelids were growing heavy–and she sighed a little, and told him it was time for bed.

He’d tried to protest–just as he always had–but she shook her head, and told him he needed to get some sleep. Her smile brightened then, and she told him they’d do this again–and this time, they wouldn’t wait so long.

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” she’d agreed, and he’d giggled a little as kissed two of her fingers and then pressed them to the mirror, wishing him sweet dreams and reminding him that she loved him.

He’d returned the sentiment as she struggled against a yawn, and reluctantly, he’d tucked the mirror back into this knapsack for safe keeping. And then, when the next day came, just as she’d promised, she was there. Day after day after day, she was there.

“I lost a tooth,” he told her, pointing to the empty space behind his bottom lip. “It didn’t even hurt.”

A soft grin tugs on to her lips. “Did you save it?” Roland nods, and she laughs as his tongue pokes through the space where his tooth had been just hours before. “Because you know, if you save it and you put it under your pillow, the Tooth Fairy will come while you’re sleeping and replace it with coins… and probably a lot of glitter that you’ll never get off of your pillow”

“Mooooom,” Roland says as a laugh erupts from him. “That’s not true.” Her face changes then–her eyes widening and her smile fading–and suddenly his laugh halts as he realizes what he’s said. “Oh,” he murmurs as his cheeks flush. “I… didn’t mean to… um…”

“It’s okay,” she cuts in as she bats her a finger over her eye, wiping away a tear before it can fall. “You can call me that… if you want to.” He smiles sheepishly and nods. “Because, I’d like it if you did.”

“I… I wish you could visit,” he murmurs.

“I do, too, sweetheart,” she tells him as her smile returns. “And who knows, maybe one day soon, we’ll figure out a way for that to happen.”

“I don’t know…”

“Hey,” she cuts in, her voice firm as she looks him directly in the eye. “Stranger things have happened.”

“That’s true,” he says as a smile tugs up at the corner of his mouth–a smile that grows in confidence as it spreads–because if there’s one thing he knows for certain, it’s that Regina–his mom–doesn’t give up on the people she loves. His smile brightens and he nods because even though he can’t fathom a way that he might ever see her again–truly see her in person–he knows that she loves him an awful lot, and that love is the most powerful magic of all.


End file.
